The Jeffersons. That's right, The Jeffersons taught me about the evils of racism. There was an episode called "Sorry, Wrong Meeting", where George inadvertently attends a KKK meeting in his building. When the KKK leader has a heart attack, George is the only one in the room who knows CPR and saves his life. When the KKK leader's son tells him that George saved his life, he says "You should have let me die". As a little kid, I was completely freaked out. My poor Mom wasn't able to explain racism to me. I just couldn't comprehend the intense hatred somebody could have just based on somebody else's skin color. Maybe it was because my best friend at the time was Mexican or maybe because I used to watch Sanford and Son, Good Times as well as The Jeffersons that I didn't think there was anything inherently strange or different about people that weren't white. Or maybe it was a good family to teach me right from wrong. Or maybe it was a combination of all of them together.
Here is part 2 of that Jeffersons episode. Just try to imagine watching this as a 9-year old and that's how I felt.
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